Two Bay councillors in limbo after their salaries are stopped

The salaries of two Defenders of The People (DOP) councillors in Nelson Mandela Bay have been stopped after an instruction from acting city manager Luvuyo Magalela.

This comes after councillors Tukela Zumani and Florence Hermans withdrew from a court application in March that included an interim order that had suspended any vacancies from being declared with the IEC.

This was after Zumani filed a counter-application.

Magalela said he had instructed municipal payroll staff to stop payments to the two because they were no longer councillors.

“I wrote to the payroll to stop their salary effective from March 28,” Magalela said.

“On March 28, [Zumani] withdrew their application in court, meaning the vacancy is effectively declared.”

Zumani and Hermans have been engaged in a battle to hold onto their seats since February 2022, when the DOP terminated their membership.

A dispute has raged for months between rival DOP factions, leading to a court battle as Zumani challenged the legality of their expulsion from the party.

The status of the councillors has been up in the air since November 2022, when then acting city manager Selwyn Thys declared the vacancies.

However, the court decided in December that year to keep the seats vacant until the legal battle was finalised.

This was after the party approached the high court to enforce the expulsion.

But just two months later, Zumani and Hermans were back in council after launching a counter-application and winning an interim order that suspended the declaration until the matter was resolved.

Part A of their application aimed to suspend the declaration, while Part B sought to review and overturn the decision to declare the vacancies.

However, Zumani informed the high court in Gqeberha in March that he had withdrawn the application. Magalela said withdrawal meant Zumani and Hermans were no longer councillors.

“The vacancies were declared by Thys when he was acting city manager.

“[Zumani] interdicted the filling of the vacancy and challenged the declaration of the vacancy by the municipality.”

Zumani said he had since asked his attorneys to try to reverse the decision.

“He [Magalela] confirmed that, despite having received communications from our lawyers, he has directed the removal of both Florence Hermans and myself from the municipality’s payroll,” he said.

“He stated that the interdict, which had been preventing the implementation of these vacancies, ceased to apply once we withdrew our application.

“I have instructed my attorneys to take appropriate action regarding this issue.”

Zumani argued that DOP first withdrew its application, rendering the counter-application unnecessary.

DOP provincial leader Victor Manyathi said the party was now trying to get the two councillors deregistered with the IEC.

“Zumani and Hermans were only in council because of the interim order,” Manyathi said.

“He has employed multiple delaying tactics.

“On one occasion he tried to represent himself at court because they had no lawyers, something the judge could not entertain, leading to another postponement.

“Proceedings were again stopped because the judge found the file was in shambles after it was handed over to Zumani’s lawyers.”

Zumani rubbished Manyathi’s claim.

“Even though the interdict [to stay in council] fell away, the IEC and city manager are in no position to act because the conditions which led to the granting of the interdict still exist.

“The disciplinary proceedings that led to the purported expulsion of Hermans and myself were bogus.

“I have indicated to the IEC that we will be filing new papers this week to set aside the bogus expulsion,” he said.

Zumani and Hermans were expelled for allegedly negotiating a coalition agreement with the ANC, with a coalition taking control of the city after the 2021 elections.